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Friday, June 29, 2007

Last days I checked the radio of Turkmenistan. The two frequencies 4930 and 5015 are still active. I heard the programmes very weak, but the programmes of Turkmenistan are easy to recognize due to their language and instrumental music. 4930 was not audible in tne eveninguntil 2100 because of VOA on that frequency. So it was possible to hear from 2100-2300 when the hight break beginns on 4930, then from 0059-0150, when the station faded out. 5015 came in after 2100 and was audible until 0130 (fade out). The night break is before 2100. The programmes are not in \\, just some news at the beginning of the hour. 2100-2300, 0059-~0150: 4930 2100-~0130 UT: 5015 kHz.(Udo Krueger-D, wwdxc BC-DX June 18)(Source: BC-DX # 813)

The exiled Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has announced today that it will launch a weekly radio broadcast to Ethiopia starting on 2 July 2007. The radio will be broadcast every Monday from 7-8 pm, Addis Ababa time [1600-1700 gmt], on 15260 kHz or 19 meter band.

The radio programme will include bible teaching, church news, as well as reports and discussions on current social, political and other issues of national importance. The Holy Synod is led by the legitimate patriarch of Ethiopia, Abune Merkorios, who went into exile when the Tigrean People Liberation Front (weyane, [TPLF, dominant party with in ruling coalition]) came to power in 1991.

While in exile, Abune Merkorios helped prevent Ethiopian churches in the Diaspora from being taken over by the weyane-installed patriarch, Aba Gebremedhin (formerly Aba Paulos) who is viewed by Ethiopians more as a political cadre of the regime than a religious leader.

Abune Merkorios has also helped build several churches, providing spiritual comfort to hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians who scattered around the world. The radio broadcast is intended to expand its spiritual service the church providing to its followers be a voice for the millions of Ethiopians who are being brutalized by the tribal junta in power.(Source: Ethiopian Review website in English 12 Jun 07 via BBC Monitoring, original post 14 June 2007)

Closing down Venezuela’s last remaining opposition television station would be “the beginning of the end” of President Hugo Chávez’s rule, the channel’s head said in comments published today. ”It would be the beginning of the end because it would close the escape valve available to Venezuelans. Globovision is the only media where the opposition can take a stand,” station director Alberto Ravell told conservative daily Spanish newspaper ABC.

Ravell said the broadcaster was the only station in Venezuela whose “editorial line is not set by the government.” Last month Chávez refused to renew the broadcast licence of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which expired on May 27, on grounds the network was conspiring to overthrow him.

Venezuela’s Communications Minister Willian Lara has since accused Globovision of inciting attempts to assassinate Chávez, citing as proof its airing of footage of the 1981 assassination attempt on former pope John Paul II accompanied by a salsa song whose lyrics included the line “have faith.”

Chávez’s move against RCTV, a popular broadcaster of soap operas and variety shows, sparked days of clashes between police and protesters that left dozens injured and led to an international outcry. The Venezuelan president has said Globovision distorted reaction to the closure of RCTV.

While Venezuelan state television has depicted the protesters as vandals Globovision has depicted the marches against the closure of RCTV as a battle for free speech and has blamed the police for the violence.

Monitoring observations over the past month of the Voice of Zimbabwe indicate that regular programming has yet to start. The station opened on 25 May 2007.

Harare’s state-owned The Sunday Mail reported on 27 May that the station was testing “for the next three weeks, during which time management will be fine-tuning programming and receiving feedback from listeners from all over the world”. The published transmission schedule is 0530 to 1630 gmt on 5975 kHz and 1630 to 0530 gmt on 4828 kHz.

However, no news broadcasts have been heard; the station plays Chimurenga [liberation war] music which fades away at different times. There is no set schedule and no announcers have been heard.

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and the Ministry of Information have not advanced any explanation for the failure to begin news broadcasts.

Zimdaily, a London-based online news service critical of government policies, reported on 5 June that the station had “indefinitely” postponed broadcasts because “the radio was inadvertently jammed by the same equipment set up by the paranoid ZANU-PF government to jam private radio stations - Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa”.

The station, headed by liberation war veteran Happison Muchechetere, is thought to have hired three reporters by 15 June. Staff members are still based in Harare, not in Gweru, the city from which the station broadcasts. Vehicles bearing the station’s logo are seen on the streets of Harare.(Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 Jun 07/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels during 27 June - 10 July, though active levels may occur on 30 June due to a weak, recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels on 11 - 12 July due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet tounsettled conditions are expected during 13 - 17 July. An increase to quiet to active conditions is expected during 18 - 20 July with minor storm periods possible on 19 July due to another recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Mostly quiet conditions are expected during 21 - 23 July.

Radio Kashmir has regained popularity among masses with the increased number of its listeners across the state. The news and commercial broadcasting (FM) section of its Srinagar Station have once again attracted the people by providing them the best news and entertainment round the clock, reports the Kashmir News Agency.The Urdu News from Radio Kashmir Srinagar on state hookup is simultaneously broadcast from Bhaderwah, Drass, Jammu, Kargil, Kathua, Khalsi, Kupwara, Leh, Naushera, Poonch, Rajouri , Srinagar and Tiesuru.Reports revealed that 70 to 80 percent of the News audience listens to Radio Kashmir Srinagar, mostly in rural areas, while a large number of people listen to Commercial broadcasting’s FM Station and its other allied programmes, thus giving a tough fight to other private operators in the state.(Source: Kashmir News Agency/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

The Swiss federal government has approved a licence for a new English-language digital radio station called World Radio Switzerland. WRS, to be run by Swiss Radio and Television (SSR), will replace World Radio Geneva in November. The government also approved the launch of DRS 4 News, an all-news German-language digital radio station that SSR will begin operating at the same time.Full details from Tribune de GenPve(Source: R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

SWEDEN GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ TRANSMISSION.The annual transmission on "Alexanderson Day" with the Alexanderson alternator on VLF 17.2 kHz will take place Sunday July 1st 2007 at 0900 UTC (tuning up from 0815 UT) and will be repeated at 1300 (tuning up from 1215 UT).The station will be open to visitors. There will be activity on amateur radio frequencies with the call "SK6SAQ". Check our web site: www.alexander.n.se

Station Engineer, Mr. D. Thinley, has confirmed by e-mail that he has received my snail mail reception report and will answer with a QSL. The e- mail connection to the BBS is sporadic. I sent him two e-mails replying to his e-mails to me, but in both cases they bounced back with this message: "Your message was not delivered because the destination computer was not reachable within the allowed queue period. The amount of time a message is queued before it is returned depends on local configuration parameters.Most likely there is a network problem that prevented delivery, but it is also possible that the computer is turned off, or does not have a mail system running right now. Your message was not delivered within 2 days and 0 hours. Host bbs.com.bt is not responding." (Anker Petersen-DEN, June 7 dswci DXW)

Kim Andrew Elliott, audience research analyst in the US International Broadcasting Bureau, will be on VOA’s Talk to America, tomorrow, 28 June, at 1400-1500 UTC, for another discussion about international broadcasting. Kim will interview Terrence Ripmaster, author of the new book Willis Conover: Broadcasting Jazz to the World. The programme follows the news at 1400 UTC on these shortwave frequencies or via the VOA News Now Windows Media or RealPlayer live audio streams. Join the conversation by calling +1-202-619-3111 or e-mail to talk@voanews.com .(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

All Radio Budapest HF services in languages other than Hungarian are planned to be terminated on June 30, 2007. This is the planned schedule for the residual Hungarian services, with all transmissions from Jazbareny:All times UTC

3975 to Central Europe at 0300-0700 (Mo-Sa), 0400-0730 (Su), 1000-1100, 1400-1700 and 1800-2200.5995 to Central Europe at 0400-0730 (Su)6025 to Central Europe at 0300-2200 and Sa/Su 2200-2300.6140 to North America at 0130-0230.6195 to North America at 0000-0100.9665 to South America at 2200-2300.11695 to North America at 2000-2100.11795 to Australia at 1800-1900.21590 to Australia at 1100-1200. (Padula, Jun 23)(Source: DX Window 327 via Anker Petersen)

AFGHANISTANA pirate Taleban radio station, Voice of Shariat, or Islamic law, has begun broadcasting again, reports from south-eastern Afghanistan say. A Taleban spokesman said a half-hour programme was broadcast on the night of Jun 19 and would now be broadcast daily. The broadcast had a message from the fugitive Taleban leader, Mullah Omar, Koranic verses and criticised the presence of foreign press.

The station closed six years ago with the fall of the Taleban regime. Local people said the station could be heard in parts of four south-eastern provinces - Paktika, Paktia, Khost and Ghazni.

The sound quality may have been poor, and reception faint, but the content of the latest transmission from the Voice of Shariat was familiar to those who remember the station which used to carry the Taleban's message across Afghanistan. An Afghan official in Paktia province confirmed the programme could be heard there, but he said reception was weak. It is not clear where the broadcasts originate from.

Two years ago, the Taleban announced they were relaunching the Voice of Shariat as a pirate radio station from somewhere in their former stronghold of the south. They said they would use a mobile transmitter to avoid being shut down by American or Afghan forces. Last year its broadcasts could be heard briefly and intermittently in some southern provinces.

But this is thought to be the first time it has been heard in the south east. The Taleban took over Afghan radio when they swept to power in Kabul in 1996. They threw out female presenters and banned music, but used radio to broadcast their hardline Islamic view of the world to the rest of the country. They were tougher on television, outlawing it as un-Islamic. And they were famously known for hanging television sets.

However, nowadays, the Taleban and their allies are thought to be behind fairly sophisticated propaganda videos circulating in Pakistan and Afghanistan and some Taleban commanders have even allowed Western camera crews to film them. The Taleban also make extensive use of the internet and have their own internet site. (By Pam O'Toole, BBC News at news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6224972.stm via Liangas, Jun 21).

Until Oct 08, 2001 when U.S. aircraft bombed its Kabul transmitter, R Voice of Shariat was heard on 7070-7090 at 0100-0300 (Fr-0800) 1400-1500 in Pashto/Dari and 1530-1710 Foreign Sce. incl. news in English at 1530-1545. (Ed)(Source: DX Window 327 via Anker Petersen)

Today's shortwave BLOG LOGS, represent those recently cut from my SWBC Logs column, due to space constraints. Contributions are always welcome for the magazine or blog, and may be directed to my above email address. Thanks very much to all the contributors for your kind words and support.Gayle VH

GermanyEvangelische Missions Gemendein via Wertachtal 13710, 1100-1115. Russian service for choral music. Monitoring this one while checking Radio Thailand at the same time. Males continuous talk from 1106 to tune-out. Poor copy with fading. (Barbour)

Hi long time amigos radioaficionados and those who are listening for the first time too... welcome to the midweek edition of Dxers Unlimited that is certainly a very special one, as at the time you are listening to the program, our nearest star the Sun has been inactive for a very long period, with the daily sunspot count at ZERO for many days.

Now a new sunspot active region is slowly rotating into view, and that will probably increase the solar flux above the extremely low 67 and 68 flux units that it has been hovering as of late. By the way, any solar flux figure below 70 units , automatically sends the sunspot count to ZERO.

Item two: Thank you amigos, to the many friends around the world that have already sent birthday greetings..ahead of time, as I will be celebrating my birthday Monday of next week. Some came in as early as yesterday evening, as it seems that some of my good friends have very well structured computerized data bases with their amigos birthdays records !!!

Item three: Listening Friday evening on the AM medium wave broadcast band to the recently upgraded Radio Reloj Pinar del Rio provincial relay, operating on 790 kiloHertz and running 20 kiloWatts, its another of the new solid state high technology transmitters that are replacing the old power hungry vacuum tube broadcast equipment, in an effort by Cuban broadcasting to make more efficient use of electricity by replacing the obsolete transmitting plant as financial resources become available.

The new 20 kW 790 kHz transmitter is located on the outskirts of the city of Pinar del Rio , about 100 miles west of Havana, and tests done by RadioCuba engineers show that it has an overall conversion efficiency of around 80 percent... that meaning that the new Radio Reloj relay will save a lot of electricity while providing a much better service, because it is also capable of modulating the carrier wave on positive peaks up to 125 percent...

A similar 10 kiloWatt transmitter was recently installed by Radio Cuba for the Radio Reloj City of Havana station on 950 kiloHertz, something that has improved the coverage of Radio Reloj in three of the nation's western provinces. More radio hobby related information coming to you in just a few seconds as Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition continues...

Si amigos, wish you could join my modest birthday party next Monday afternoon... I will be meeting with family and friends for the celebration, with little Claudia, my youngest daughter now almost two and a half years old, Teresita, my elder daughter , Arnie Jr. and Roxana my wife having prepared a cake and ice cream party !!!

Now here is the next item of today's program: Just added a Light Emitting Diodes home brew lamp to act as the back light of my favorite 2 meters band FM transceiver that was constantly burning the very difficult to replace incandescent pilot lamp that illuminates the liquid crystal display. A white light emitting diode and a resistor did the job that , according to LED manufacturers specifications won't need to be replaced in a very long , long time.

I also did a similar incandescent light bulb replacement on my small portable, a Grundig FR200 " Recycle Power"radio.

On this radio I replaced the high intensity miniature incandescent lamp dash emergency light with a cluster of three high intensity white diodes, that give a lot of light and use less than half the electricity that the incandescent bulb requires to operate. Some time ago a long time Dxers Unlimited listeners sent me the photos of his modified Grundig FR200 receiver , to which he had changed the light bulb for three high intensity white Light Emitting Diodes with great success, and I just followed upon this nice idea.

The other modification that he made consists on an electronic band spread, that is a voltage variable silicon diode that was added to the local oscillator tuned circuit on the short wave bands, making tuning a lot easier than with the radio's original mechanical analog tuning. He told me that he could set the analog dial to a specific position on the blank calibration scale, and then tune the radio with the varicap diode. Another thing he did to this very special "emergency radio" was to add a beat frequency oscillator, so that single side band and CW stations could be picked up..The BFO is switched on and off by a miniature switch located on the back of the radio, right next to a second variable resistor to control the voltage to a second voltage variable or varicap diode.

One of the really nice features of the Grundig FR200 is that it uses up very little electricity to operate... as a matter of fact three standard double A cells will last for quite some time if you use the radio for casual listening.

Again, it's an excellent set to have around in case there is a power failure, and even if your batteries go dead, the Grundig FR 200 has a crank type Direct Current Generator that will charge a small nickel metal hydride battery pack, and even if the pack is in bad shape, the radio will keep working all the time that you are cranking the generator !!!

Si amigos, despite doomsday predictions that the radio hobby will just vanish due to the now everywhere Internet, it's just not happening, and what a paradox, the Internet is actually helping the radio hobby in the specific case of amateur radio.

Never before in the more than one hundred years of the existence of our wonderful hobby we have seen so much valuable information been made available freely... There are thousands and thousands of amateur radio websites, and the amount of technical information that can be downloaded is absolutely amazing...

There are websites that require many, many hours to just take a look at, like the super antenna site courtesy of W4RNL , Dr. L.B. Cebik, that can be found at http://www.cebik.com....

There are sites devoted to specific modes like the Dr. Oliver Phelp's digital communications mode website, and there are also lots of sites devoted to radio wave propagation, home brewing of radios, contests, antique radios... you name it, so again, we are seeing a very interesting thing happening in front of our eyes... the Internet, that was supposed to be the end of amateur radio and the radio hobby in general, is actually now helping more and more people enjoy the hobby in a much more plentiful and I must add also inexpensive way !!!

But be aware that some radio amateurs think different as regards to making their websites freely available to anyone, by demanding copyright privileges as if their websites were run as commercial operation... but fortunately those are just a few exceptions and the true amateur radio spirit of cooperation with anyone interested in the promotion and development of the radio hobby seems to prevail in at least a one hundred to one ratio in favor of freely available technical information.

Si amigos, yes my friends, thanks for joining me today on this mid weekk edition of Dxers Unlimited... And now here is the very popular antenna topics section of the show...devoted today to a peculiar antenna system that is known as " The DIPOLES NEST ", a very easy to home brew High end of the HF, low band VHF and high Band VHF antenna.

A few weeks ago I quickly assembled a NEST OF DIPOLES, to solve a friend's antenna problem... The system has a dipole cut for 28.4 megaHertz on the 10 meters band, his favorite HF band, another one cut for 50.3 megaHertz on 6 meters and yet another one cut from 145.000 megaHertz on 2 meters.

They are all fed using the single RG 58U 50 ohms coaxial cable that my friend had at hand, and as expected, I used a first balun choke coil for the two meters dipole, made by looping 6 turns of the cable on a 1.5 inch diameter PVC pipe coil form, followed by another air wound choke coil of 6 inches diameter aiming at decoupling the radio frequency of the 10 and 6 meters band from from flowing on the outside of the braid of the coaxial cable.

The dipoles were made with number 8 PVC insulated copper wire, something that required careful tuning of each dipole, because the dimensions of antennas using insulated wires are different from the ones using bare copper or aluminum wire.

Anyway, the three dipoles are kept separated from each other by small lengths of polyethylene pipe, and in a second antenna, the separation between the dipoles was achieved with lengths of the center insulator of heavy duty RG17 coaxial cable, also an excellent HF, VHF and UHF insulating material.

The procedure to set up the antenna involved using a good quality HF standing wave ratio meter for tuning up the 10 meters band antenna first , and a similar VHF instrument for setting up the 6 and 2 meters bands dipoles in sequence. In this second version, as always, something new came to my mind, and we decided to include yet another dipole, a fourth one, tuned to the center of the aircraft VHF band...that for voice communications spans from 118 to 136 MHz, so we cut the dipole for 127 megaHertz. This antenna was not adjusted for transmission, because it will always be a receive only antenna as you may realize.

The four dipoles " Nest of Dipoles" HF, plus 3 VHF bands antenna works very well on 10 meters, 6 meters, the aircraft band and the ham two meters band.Installing the two antennas was a rather easy job, as they are quite compact... because the longest dipole, the one for 10 meters is just about 5 meters or 16 feet long. Both antennas were installed as 45 degrees tilted dipoles, a compromise to achieve good pick up and transmission of both vertical and horizontally polarized waves.

If you need to install these dipole nests at a distance longer than about 20 meters or 60 feet from your radio equipment, then please consider the need to change to more expensive and less loss coaxial cable types, like the RG-213 or RG-8, in order to reduce the signal loss typical of the RG58 type cables.

By the way , a similar dipoles 'nest' can be built for other frequency ranges too... VHF-UHF radio amateurs can make a nice nest for 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 centimeters, and ideal system to carry on the backpack with one of the new ultracompact multi band amateur radio transceivers like the YAESU FT817 or the ICOM 706...These antennas are lightweight, easy to repair on the field, and will cost you next to nothing as compared with similar commercially built versions...But again, I insist that you will need to invest quite some time adjusting them for minimum standing wave ratio...

And now amigos, as always at the end of the show here is our exclusive and not copyrighted HF plus low band VHF propagation update and forecast... The latest forecast for the solar minimum is telling us that it may be actually happening right now , but other scientists believe that the tail end of solar cycle 23 will extend until the first half of 2008.

The latest solar data are simply typical of minimum solar activity with zero sunspot count, solar flux below 70 units and a very quiet geomagnetic field...the expected average sunspot number for June is expected to reach the rock bottom figure of 5... Expect also some really amazing sporadic E skip openings during the next several days ,with multiple hop E skip giving radio amateurs the unique opportunity of working transcontinental DX between Africa, Europe and the Americas. Don't forget to set aside a little of your valuable time to send me a signal report and your comments about the program, send them to arnie@rhc.cu, again arnie@rhc.cu and VIA AIR MAIL, send mail to Arnie Coro Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba . Hope to have you all listening to our weekend edition next Saturday and Sunday UTC days amigos !!!(Arnie Coro CO2KK)

IOTA NEWSAF-019. Giuseppe "Joe", I2AZ, is now active as IG9/I2AZ from Lampedusa Island (IIA AG-001). The length of his stay is unknown. I2AZ is only active on CW. QSL via the Bureau.

AF-104. (NEW ONE!) Operators Ivan/OM3CGN, Robert/OM1KW, Afif/7X2RO, Youcef/7X2HF, Sofiane/7X2GF, Faouzi/7X2FB, Frantise/7X0RY and Yves/7X0MT are expected to be active as 7U5CI from Cavallo Island in the Mediterranean Sea Coast East Group for the first time between June 23-28th. They plan to have three stations active with a spiderbeam and wire dipoles. Activity will be on 160-6 meters on all modes. This island is located between Bejaia and Jijel. QSL via OM3CGN.

EU-008. Members of the Cockenzie and Port Seton Amateur Radio Club (CPSARC) will once again operate from the Isle of Tiree (IOSA NH04, WAB NM04), the most westernly part of Scotland's Inner Hebridean Islands, during the RSGB IOTA (Islands on the Air) Contest which runs from 1200z, July 28th to 1200z, July 29th, using the clubs special contest callsign GM2T. Pre-contest activity members will be signing as MM0CPS/P. CPSARC heavily supports newcomers to their wonderful hobby and has a large number of newly licensed members who are actively encouraged to participate in their contest effort, whether experienced or not. This way, not only does their hobby benefit from new operators, but contesting benefits as they invariably become bitten by the contest bug. This year's team consists of: Cambell/MM0DXC, Bob/GM4UYZ, John/MM0JXI, Brian/M0RNR, John/MM0CCC, Landles/GM4XZZ, Willie/MM0WZZ, Iain/MM1CPP, Gary/MM0FZV, Gareth/M3INO, Derek/MM0WST, Colin/2M0CRR, Moe/MM0MRM, Geoff/MM5AHO, Ellis/GM4GZW and Innes/GM4VJV. QSL GM2T via the Bureau, or their QSL Manager GM4UYZ, by the Bureau or direct. Details are available at: http://www.qrz.com/gm2t For details about CPSARC, visit their revamped Web site at: http://www.cpsarc.com/

EU-042. Manfred, DF7FC, will be active as homecall/p from Langeness Island (N-19 for the German Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). His activity will be SSB only, with 100 watts. QSL via his home callsign; bureau is preferred.

EU-057. Joachim, DL5KUD, will be active from Ruegen Island (O-07 for the German Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via DL5KUD; bureau is preferred.

EU-115. Dez, G0DEZ, will be active as EI9JQ from Ireland during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). Activity will be on 80-10 meters, but low power. QSL via G0DEZ.

EU-123. Operators Colin/MM0NDX and Ian/GM1RIG will be active as homecall/p from Cramond Island during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via their home callsigns, direct only.

EU-128. Holger, DL5XAT, will be active as homecall/p from Fehmarn Island (O-01 for the German Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via his home callsign.

EU-129. Members of the club station "des OV Konigs Wusterhausen" (DL0KWH) will be active as DL0KWH/p from Usedom Island (0-13 for the German Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th) as a Multi-Op CW and SSB entry. QSL via DL0KWH; bureau is preferred.

EU-129. A team of German operators will be active as DR6IOTA from Usedom Island (0-13 for the German Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via DM5DX.

EU-088. Ric, DL2VFR, will be active as OZ/DL2VFR from Laeso Island (NK-003 for the Danish Islands Award), and possibly Hornfiskroen Island (NK-005 for the Danish Islands Award), from June 24th and July 1st. Activity will be on all HF bands, CW and SSB. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the bureau.

EU-121. Look for operators G3ZAY, M0HSW and M0TJH to be active as EI/homecall/p from Inishbofin Island in the Irish Coastal Islands Group from June 25-27th. QSL via their home callsigns.

NA-046. Howie, K1VSJ, will be active as K1VSJ/p from Martha's Vineyard (USI MA-005S, Dukes County, Massachusetts, WLOTA 2804), during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via his home callsign.

NA-196. Operators Pete/VE3IKV and Bill/W4TAA will be activating Belcher Islands in CQ Zone 2 (VY0 Nunavut Territory), using the special callsign authorized by Industry Canada, VF0X, between June 29th and July 4th. Activity will be on HF and 6 meters, CW and SSB. QSL is via VE3IKV, direct (quick) or by the bureau (slow).

SA-027. Bone, PP5VX, will be active from Sao Francisco Island (DIB 08 for the Brazilian Islands Award) during the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 28-29th). QSL via the address on QRZ.com.

KH3, JOHNSTON ISLAND (Delay and Update). Skipper of the USSV Dharma, Susan Meckley, W7KFI, who got sidelined from her trip to KH3-land because of her bad toothache, has informed OPDX that she had to have jaw surgery. The almost 73 year old grandmother states, "boy does it hurt today...anyway it was 1366.48 USDs....wow." Susan states it will take her a week or so to recuperate, then she will be off for KH3 and V7 again. She indicated that she wants to (has to) "leave Honolulu well before August as the hurricanes start coming this far west in August." She estimates to look for her to be active from KH3 on 14036 and 14236 kHz during the last week of July or the first week of August.

LZ, BULGARIA (Bird Op/Possibly YO). Andy, G0SFJ, hopes to operate as LZ/G0SFJ/P again, this time from the Rhodopi Mountains south of Kardjali between August 12-14th. He will be at the Astrocamp there. His equipment will be a FT-51R (QRP) and a trusty Arrow on AO51 and SO50. ADDED NOTE: Andy will be taking a train to Bucharest, Romania, and he needs a partner/supporter in Bucharest to help him operate as YO/G0SFJ/P in a public park in Bucharest on Saturday and Sunday, August 18-19th. Andy states, "Without a partner in YO I will not feel secure in operating there, and I might not take my equipment at all." If you can help him, E-mail him at the following addresses to make arrangements: andythomasmail@yahoo.co.uk

OE16, AUSTRIA (Special Event). The Amateur Radio Section of ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) and the Documentary Archives Radio Communication/QSL Collection will activate the unique callsign OE16B between August 31st and September 9th. This special event station is on the air to celebrate the Papal visit of Bendedikt XVI to Austria. QSL only direct via: ORF/OE16B, A-1136 Wien, Austria,. This is a charity operation for the El Molo Mission and School in Kenya*. Therefore, the special QSL will only be issued for a donation (at least 1 new IRC or 1 USD). All other reports will be answered with a plain QSL via the Bureau. * http://www.ppoe.at/leiter/themen/hhh07/hhh07/hhh_infos.html

PACIFIC TRIP (IOTA Op). Karl, N1DL, who was active from various Caribbean locations last year, will be active from various French Polynesian Islands as FO/N1DL and as E51ADL from Rarotonga (OC-013), South Cooks Islands, this year between June 27th and July 11th. His activity will be limited because he is on holiday, but look for operations to be on most bands and all modes. QSL via his home callsign.

PJ2, NETHERLAND ANTILLIES. Operators Carsten/DL6LAU, Jan/DJ8NK and Joachim/DL8OBQ will be active from Curacao Island (SA-006, WLOTA LH-0942) as PJ2/homecall, July 9-16th. The trio will also participate in the IARU HF Contest (July 14-15th) as PJ2HQ, a Multi-Multi entry. QSL via their home callsigns. QSL PJ2HQ via N9AG or LoTW.

Notes: The test will run at low power 12 mid to 4am Pacific each morning July 1st to the 13th at low power, 96 Watts Non Directionally. On the morning of July 14th and 15th, the test will once again run from 12am to 4am but instead at KXTO's licensed non directional daytime power of 2500 Watts. Test material will air twice an hour and consist solely of Morse Code Id's and sweeptones near the top and bottom of the hour. The station runs a spanish christian format asLa Voz Cristiana 1550.

Please do not call or email the station during the test, as this is being done automatically via Remote Control and Computer Automation.

QSL Information: Reception reports are desired via e-mail (1st choice) and snail mail (only if e-mail is not available) Station would prefer to received recordings of the test. Submit reports to:les@highnoonfilm.com and please put "KXTO DX Test" in the subject line.

Preferred audio formats on the computer are MP3's due to the fact a wav file of the same size is nearly 10x bigger. If you need help converting wav files, just ask. If you absolutely need to mail a cassette, PLEASE cue the tape up to the spot where the best reception is. If you mail a CD, only include the pertinent parts.

Please include an SASE for reply. (Station Management and Consultants have authorized Mr. Rayburn to issue QSL's on their behalf!)

Thanks to First Broadcasting Of Nevada, Inc/KXTO 1550 General Manager Jose Pacheco for helping out all us DX'ers in the IRCA, NRC and everywhere else. He was extremely helpful and willing to do this for us, AGAIN! This will be a good chance for some of us to nab Nevada in ourlog books.(Source: MARE Tip Sheets #446 via Harold Frodge)

On July 9 2007, Radio New Zealand International features a new Radio Heritage documentary during the Mailbox program and it's then available as a podcast for two weeks at http://www.rnzi.com/ .

In 1894, New Zealander Ernest Rutherford carried out radiotransmissions around the same time as Marconi in Italy, and just overa decade later, the German Telefunken company built the first wirelessstations in New Zealand.

There was another Pacific battle involving Marconi, and this one alsoincluded Telefunken too. By capturing the German station in WesternSamoa, New Zealand even inherited a colony and the results arereflected today in the changing demographics of Auckland and other NewZealand urban centers.

>From the world's longest two-way direct radio link in 1924, againfeaturing New Zealand, to a Vila based amateur radio enthusiast in1928 whose detailed listener card sent to Queensland features in theprogram, the isolation of the Pacific was evaporating into theairwaves.

Learn of the Hawaiian radio station that included New Zealand Times inits program schedules, how many Europeans tuned to VPD in Suva, andhow Charles Gaveaux, owner of Radio Noumea, was able to keep his tinystation on the air.

Gongs from KFI Los Angeles reached New Zealand every night and you'llhear other examples of how Pacific radio developed close links duringthe brief two decades before WWII reached the region in December 1941.

Mailbox is broadcast via shortwave by RNZI [full program schedules andtimes at www.rnzi.com and is also available by on demand podcast.Look for 'more audio' and click on Mailbox for July 9.

For entertaining stories and photos about Pacific radio before WWII,including the New Zealand Radio Dial 1931, Early Australian Radio andmuch more, make sure you visit http://www.radioheritage.net/ today.

Membership costs nothing, and you'll also get regular newslettersabout Pacific wide radio heritage activities so sign up whilst atwww.radioheritage.net! Volunteers welcome! The Radio HeritageFoundation is a registered non-profit organization with members andsupporters worldwide.(Source: Radio Heritage)

21/06/2007: Matthias, DD9HK will be active June 21st to July 5th from the 3V8SS QTHin Sousse, Tunisia. QSL this operation via DD9HK. [Tnx 425 DX News]

22/06/2007: Members of the Uruguay DX Group plan to activate Wichubwala Island in theSan Blas Province Group (NA-170) between June 22-28th. The operators mentioned are:Mario/CX4CR, Bert/CX3AN and Gus/CX2AM. Look for them to sign HP2/homecall. Activity will be on 80-6 meters CW, SSB and the digital modes. QSL via CX2AM. For more nfo, please visit their web page at: www.cx2an.servehttp.com/hp2/ (Tnx OPDX)

23/06/2007: Mike, G0HIO has arranged a radio trip to Cyprus (AS-004, MIA MCI-002, WLOTA LH-0051), June 23-30th. He will be operating CW only as 5B/G0HIO, with 100 watts and wire antennas. QSL via home call. E-mail requests for band skeds can be sent to (g0hio -at- tesco.net). [Tnx 425 DX News]

23/06/2007: Operators Ivan/OM3CGN, Bob/OM1KW, Afif/7X2RO, Youcef/7X2HF, Sofiane/7X2GX, Faouzi/7X2FB, Franta/7X0RY and Yves/7X0MT will be QRV June 23-28th as 7U5CI from Cavallo Island (AF-104/Pr). Activity will be on all bands with 3 stations, spiderbeam and wire dipoles. QSL via OM3CGN. [Tnx Pete's-DX-Newsdesk]

23/06/2007: Look for Nicolas, F5NWL/p to be active June 23rd from the Castle of Flamanville (DFCF 50-028), Department of Manche (DDFM 50), Province of Basse-Normandie (DPF 04). Activity will probably be mostly on 40 and 20 metres. QSL via home call, direct or bureau. [Tnx Radioamateur.org]

24/06/2007: Ric, DL2VFR will be QRV June 24 to July 1 as OZ/DL2VFR from Laeso Island (EU-088, NK-003 for the Danish Islands Award), maybe Hornfiskroen Island (EU-088, NK-005 for the Danish Islands Award). Activity will be on all HF bands, CW and SSB. QSL via home call, direct or bureau. [Tnx RSGB IOTA]

25/06/2007: Eli, N6PF will be celebrating his 60th birthday with a visit to 3A2MD's QTH. He will be operating as 3A/N6PF from June 25-30th. Bands and modes of activity were not provided. QSL via his home call. [Tnx OPDX]

25/06/2007: Xavier, ON4XA reports that he will operate as YO2/ON4XA from Romania between June 25th and July 3rd. From 21 July 21st to August 12th Xavier and Bea, ON4BEA/YO2MBO will operate as F/ON4XA and F/ON4BEA from France. QSLs via home calls. [Tnx 425 DX News]

26/06/2007: Look for Ralph, NM5RC/p to activate three new islands on June 26th for the U.S. Islands Award program. He will be sitting on the UT/AZ border on Antelope Island with six-for-one contact: UT/AZ, UT023/AZ023, Kane/Coconina counties. Also Padre Point Island, UT022, San Juan County, which only needs 13 more contacts to qualify it. Island order yet to be determined. Ralph will be QRV mainly on 20m (14.260 MHz), but will try to accomodate relayed requests for other bands. He will send QSL cards for all QSOs. Accept QSL's via: USi eQSL, Callbook Address and Bureau. [Tnx USi]

27/06/2007: G3ZAY, M0HSW, and M0TJH will be QRV as EI/homecall/P from Inishmore (EU-006) from 2000 UTC June 27th to 1000 UTC June 29th. They will also try to operate for a few hours, weather permitting, from the Blasket Islands (EU-007) on June 30th. QSL via home calls. [Tnx 425 DX News]

28/06/2007: Rod, NA9N, will be active as J79RM from the island of Dominica (NA-101), June 28th-July 5th. He will mostly be operating HF and will try to work a number of digital modes. QSL to his home call sign, NA9N. [Tnx OPDX]

28/06/2007: Jim, WB2REM will be operating the special 4-letter suffix callsign VP2EREM from the island of Anguilla (NA-022) from June 28th to July 8th. Operation is expected on 80-10m using CW and SSB. QSL via WB2REM. [Tnx NG3K]

29/06/2007: Zhang, BD3APX will be active as BD3APX/2 from Juhua Island (AS-151) between June 29th and July 1st. Activity will be on 40-10 metres usingn CW, SSB and Digital modes. QSL via BD3APX. [Tnx OPDX]

29/06/2007: Pierre, HB9QQ will be trying to activate Liechtenstein (HB0) again from June 29th to July 2nd and July 6-9th. He will try to be active on HF/6m/2m as well WSJT (for meteorscatter). QTH will be the Sareiserjoch in Malbun Lichtenstein at about 2015m asl. NO EME activty planned. QSL via home call. [Tnx F5NQL]

29/06/2007: Operators Igor/VE3ZF, Alex/VE3KF and Nick/VE3FJ are going to Orleans Island [Ile d'Orleans] (NA-128, QC-007 for the Canadian Islands Award) and hope to be on the air as VE2IDX before sunset on June 29th. They will stay on Orleans Island for a couple of days and their main goal is participating in the RAC 2007 Canada Day Contest which will be held on July 1st. Main frequencies will be 14.260 MHz (daytime) and 3.795 / 7.260 MHz (during night). Equipment: transceivers YAESU FT-1000MP, IC-765, IC-756 PROIII,PA Kenwood TL-922a and Drake 1 kW output, antennas Spider 3 elements Yagi for 14-21-28 at 10 meters telescopic mast, vertical Cushcraft AP8A, Inverted Vee and Delta Loop on low bands, GP for 50 MHz and Yagi for 144 MHz. QSL direct to VE3ZF (Igor Slakva VE3ZF, 105 La Rose Avenue, Apt. #803, Etobicoke, Ontario, M9P 1A9 Canada). [Tnx VE3ZF]

29/06/2007: Pete/VE3IKV and Bill/W4TAA will be activating the Belcher Islands in CQ Zone 2, VY0 Nunavut Territory, using the special call sign authorized by Industry Canada - VF0X - between June 29 and July 4, 2007. This is IOTA island group NA-196. They will be on HF and 6 metres, CW and SSB. QSL is via VE3IKV direct (quick) or via the bureau (slow).(Tnx NG3K)(Source: I.C.P.O. Bulletin 21-29 June via Dave Raycroft)

Posted on June 23, 2007 in laws, bills, and policy by beanhttp://www.lawbean.com /2007/06/23/internet-radio-to-fall-silent-in-protest-on June-26th

Thousands of U.S. webcasters plan to turn off the music and go silentthis Tuesday, June 26, to draw attention to an impending royalty rateincrease that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of thiscountry's Internet radio industry.In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it would raiseroyalties for Internet broadcasters, moving them from a per-song rate toa per-listener rate. The increase would be made retroactive to thebeginning of 2006 and would double over the next five years. After theannouncement, a group of broadcasters spearheaded by NationalPublic Radio petitioned the CRB for a rehearing, but a panel of judgesdenied the request less than a month later. Internet radio sites would becharged per performance of a song. A "performance" is defined as thestreaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has anaverage audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 "performances" foreach song it plays.Many webcasters are planning to shut off access to their streamsentirely, while other webcasters plan to replace their music streamswith long periods of silence (or static or ocean sounds or similar)interspersed with occasional brief public service announcements on thesubject. Internet-only webcasters and broadcasters that simulcastonline will alert their listeners that "silence" is what Internet radio maybe reduced to after July 15th, the day on which 17 months' worth ofretroactive royalty payments - at new, exceedingly high rates - aredue to the SoundExchange collection organization, following a recentCopyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision.Jake Ward, a spokesman for Save Net Radio, said:"The arbitrary and drastic rate increases set by the Copyright RoyaltyBoard on March 2nd threaten the very livelihood of thousands ofwebcasters and their millions of listeners throughout the country. "Thecampaign to save Internet radio - a genuine grassroots movementcomprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists andindependent labels, and Net radio listeners - has quickly brought thisissue to the national forefront and the halls of Congress, but there is stillmore to be done before the approaching deadline of July 15th. OnTuesday, thousands of webcasters will call on their millions of listenersto join the fight to save Internet radio and contact their Congressionalrepresentatives to ask for their support of the Internet Radio EqualityAct."(Zacharias Liangas/Cumbre DX)

This morning's first post, covers a sampling of pirate activity during June 16-22. Thanks to the fine pirate chasers at FRW.

Gayle VH

Captain Ron6925u 6/21/7 1:25 (or so), sio131, just caught the very end of this, with some sort of commentary, very weak signal, but I could tell it was the good(?) Captain. (Al Fansome) 6925u 6/22/7 22:45 sio222, seems a might bit off frequency, head-banging music, ID at 22:48, "Captain Ron's out of control!" (he probably forgot his pants again) (Al Fansome:)

Chicken Radio6925u 6/17/7 00:19 sio444, very good signal, comedy skit, musical interlude with birds chirping, "Cock-doodle-doo", id at 00:22 (Al Fansome)6925usb,6-17-07,0024utc,sio=132 poor, host=Superchicken, Story Lady, episode of "Chicken Man", ad for movie "Farmageddon", comedy skit about Electric Amish. (Hassig-IL) 6925U *2215-2238+ 6/16/07 SIO=222. I believe that this was the ID given, but I list it as slightly tentative. Chicken song at open, into sketches about chickens and also a segment about an ad for the movie, "Electric Amish Armageddon." Poor in bad local hum noise. Hrd no addr. (Zeller-OH)

In Jamaica, the Broadcasting Commission is promising to get tougher in carrying out its regulatory functions, and has warned at least one broadcaster, which it refused to name, for possible suspension of its operating licence. RJR Communications Group has acknowledged, however, that it has been notified that its licence could be suspended and is awaiting further word on the matter.For more details refer to:Jamiaca Gleamerhttp://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070624/lead/lead3.html

Britain's commercial radio companies are lobbying for the FM and AM radio signals to be switched off, leaving listeners forced to tune in via digital radio sets or the internet. The radio companies claim that their medium will be left behind unless the government orders a cut-off date.

The nation's network of terrestrial TV transmitters is due to be shut down in just four years' time. Now, the radio companies want the AM and FM signals to follow suit, with some broadcasters calling for a shutdown as early as 2015.

The radio companies claim that their medium will be left behind unless the government orders a cut-off date.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Republican congressman Pete Sessions has issued spending requests for a number of projects. ”He even wants US taxpayers to spend $2.5 million for a shortwave radio station in Madagascar”, says the paper.

The request for $2.5 million is on behalf of Madagascar World Voice radio, and is intended to bring to light important projects such as the role of radio in combating HIV/AIDS in Africa, officials say. “MWV is making a difference in Madagascar and can make a difference all across Africa,” James McGee, US ambassador to Madagascar, wrote to Mr Sessions. “I support their worthy efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS and would encourage them to expand their coverage to as wide an audience as possible.”

But no matter how worthy the cause, asking for an earmark is no guarantee of federal funding, said Sessions’ Chief of Staff Guy Harrison. “At the end of the day, each of these is a request,” he said. “We’re under no illusions we’ll get all of our requests.”(Source: R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Additional info on this may be found at the Dallas Morning News website

Welcome to a new week, and a new issue of Monitoring Times. July is almost here and time to take a look at whats being covered on the shortwave scene for the July issue.

QSL Report column brings our international readers a look at verifications from three amateur radio stations, followed by CVC-Australia, Colombia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, India and Lithuania. There's a great selection of medium wave QSLs, plus Mexico and Vatican Radio. If you're a utlity buff there are three stations to send you to the dials for your own QSL.

Think there's not much to DX during our summer's high static levels? Think again. The SWBCLogs column may surprise you. I've kicked off the July column with Brazil's Radio Educacão Rural, plus a terrific selection of logs from Djibouti, Guatemala, Turkey, Ukraine, Peru and much more.

As always, M.T.'s center Shortwave Guide has an updated English 24-hour guide. Special thanks to subscribers that tell us it's top notch and best of the hobby. M.T.'s guide will keep you busy band scanning for hours!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Looking for the extra edge to keep you up on the DX hobby? Our favorite Best of the Best DX programs, will guide you through a bevy of news and station updates. This post begins with the best of Monday shows. Enjoy!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

By now you know what a terrific program Roscoe the Bartender is bringing to blues fans on shortwave radio. Where else can you hear in one hour, the music from legends...Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Son House, Lightening Hopkins and many more.

If you haven't checked out this show, you're missing a great one! Tune in Sunday evening on 7412 kHz, 2200-2300 UTC, as Roscoe brings the blues to the world.

To verify the program, send in your reception report, including the usual date, frequency, time, radio conditions (fading, interferences, reception quality) as well as music titles played. Listeners in the USA need to include a self addressed stamped envelope. Listeners outside the USA need to include a self addressed envelope and 2 IRC's (International Reply Coupons).

GUATEMALA4052.5 R. Verdad at 0343 UT on June 14, fair with gospel songs in English and Spanish.(James Ronda-OK-USA, DXplorer June 17)

HAWAII

9930 Radio for North Korea (ORNK) via Hawaii (KWHR), at 1104-1158* UT on June 12, in Korean, announcers with background music (mostlyvarious classical music), but also played eclectic selections of music(Korean ballads, classical music and segment of soul music ["Soul Man",Otis Redding with "Satisfaction", etc.]), 1158 played "Pomp andCircumstance", English ID that KWHR was going off 9930. Fair-good, nojamming noted. (Ron Howard-CA-USA, DXplorer June 12)

INDIAAnd on 11850 at 0725 I could hear some nice Indian style music atweak to fair strength, and it was also audible on 9595 in parallel, butvery weak here. I didn't recognise the language but I presume it was AllIndia Radio Nepali service via Delhi. I did try listed \\ 7250 but VaticanRadio was using the frequency. (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX June 10)

LAOS4677.5 Sam Nuea hrd June 10 from 1158.5 tune w/ local inst/vocalmx to 1200 UT, woman ann 1200, program tune 1200-01, woman ann to 1201.5then short mx and into a man ann alternating w/ woman ann and a few shortmusic spots (just a few sec each) at 1202. May have been some remotereports, but couldn't be sure. Believe 1200 prgm is a relay of NationalService news. Woman ann w/ s/off at 1231.5 and carrier off at 1232.5.SINPO 25432 w/ ocnl peak to S3 after 1215. Signal gradually improved after1215. (Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer June 11)(Source: WWDXC-Top News BC-DX #812)

This Sunday MV Baltic Radio is relaying a program from Radio Zusa. Radio Zusa is a local radio station transmitting on 3 FM channels south of Hamburg and is interested in broadcasting over short-wave from time to time. The theme of this transmission on Sunday is the German reunification.You will be able to hear some very interesting reports, e.g. from radio amateur operators from the time of the cold war, and how they kept in contact with each other over the radio.

The world is half way towards its 2015 target date for achieving theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are measures agreed to by all thenations of the world for meeting the needs of the world's poorest people.

Some human-rights and activist groups say the goals are not ambitious enoughwhile others criticise the rich nations for not fulfilling their promises.

Who should be held accountable; governments or civil society? And whereshould the buck stop? Tune in to this week' s Amsterdam Forum special whenfour diplomats and policy-shapers debate in front of a live audience.

Flatlanders features either Dutch people living here or working abroad, orpeople who've come to the Netherlands for professional or personal reasons.

In this week's Flatlanters Hélène Michaud talks to Dutch pianist MarcelWorms about his international blues project. Worms has invited composersfrom countries as far apart as China, South Africa, Brazil, Croatia andIsrael to write a blues piece for him to record.

He feels the blues is eminently suited for such a multi-cultural project -listen in and see if you agree with him.

This Tuesday on the State We're In Midweek Edition, we have a look at theups and downs of adoption: Adopted children from South Korea go back to findtheir roots and discover that going home and being home are two differentthings.

An American father who adopted two sisters from India discovers they werekidnapped from their parents. He tells us his tale. And we meet the Dutchlady who adopted an Ethiopian Granny. You can too. Find out how on the nextThe State We're In.

Plus we meet the man who turned a lifetime of war into his life's work inart.

These stories of real people all around the world, human rights news, andmuch more, on the next The State We're In.

We also invite you to take part in the programme - find out how on ourwebsite: <> www.thestatewerein.org

Every summer the rolling hills and valleys of the Berkshires in westernMassachusetts become a Mecca for art lovers. Over 60 venues presentclassical and contemporary music concerts, theatre and dance performances,and a host of visual art exhibitions.

This year six cultural institutions have combined forces to present "TheNetherlands: A Season of Dutch Arts in The Berkshires" - reflecting thebroad range of Dutch creativity. Marijke van der Meer this week focuses onthe feasts of visual arts on show in one special season.

A Pan European team links up across the continent each week to provide afresh perspective on events and life in Europe.

The programme is a unique example of European co-operation, produced by thecontinent's leading international broadcasters, it reflects the diversity ofEuropean society and voices. Each week we drop in on specialists aroundEurope and catch up with our extensive network of correspondents for theirunique take on the events shaping the week.